WORLD / ASIA-PACIFIC By Xinhua Published: Feb 17, 2021 03:31 PM
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (C) plants a tree with students at a school in Kandy, Sri Lanka on Feb. 15, 2021. (President Media Division/Handout via Xinhua)
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa launched a national tree-planting program to encourage children to be eco-friendly citizens and to ensure a secure ecosystem for future generations, local media quoting a statement from the President s office said Tuesday.
President Rajapaksa launched the national program titled Kekulu Thuru Udanaya at school premises in the central hills of Gampola on Monday.
According to the statement, the number of children entering grade one, in schools every year in the country is close to 350,000 and the objective of this program was to groom children to be eco-friendly citizens and to ensure a secure ecosystem for future generations in line with the government s Sustainable Environmental Policy.